Australia and New Zealand on Thursday played down their differences on managing ties with China , even as Wellington’s top diplomat reiterated hesitancy about using a five-nation intelligence alliance to confront Beijing on human rights . Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta stressed their countries’ “common values” amid public signs of division on expanding the remit of the “Five Eyes” alliance that also includes the United States , Britain and Canada . Payne, who began a three-day visit to New Zealand on Wednesday, said the neighbours shared “broadly the same vision” of the region, but acknowledged it was up to Wellington to choose the “forum they themselves determine appropriate and consistent with their respective national interest”. “We are very close friends and neighbours, Australia and New Zealand, but importantly, each of us is a proud sovereign nation, with our own independently held views,” Payne said during a press conference held after the first face-to-face talks between the allies since the coronavirus pandemic . “That is a good thing and we would not have it any other way. But our shared values and principles, as liberal democracies, are so deep and enduring that our areas of agreement vastly outnumber any areas of difference.” Asked whether Canberra would like to see Wellington take a tougher line on Beijing, Payne said she had learned in her role “not to give advice to other countries”. Payne, whose visit came after the countries resumed a two-way quarantine-free travel bubble on Monday, said that while Australia’s relationship with China was important and benefited both countries, Beijing’s outlook and engagement with the world had changed. Canberra had to “adapt to those new realities” and had pursued a policy based on “clarity and consistency and confidence”, said Payne, who on Wednesday vetoed the state of Victoria’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative , prompting protests from Beijing. A joint statement released by the two ministers after their talks made no mention of China by name. Payne’s remarks came after Mahuta said on Monday that Wellington was “uncomfortable” about expanding the remit of the alliance beyond intelligence-sharing and would “prefer to look for multilateral opportunities to express our interests”. Mahuta on Thursday reiterated those concerns, while stressing the neighbours’ “common views on regional and global issues”. “The Five Eyes arrangement is about a security and intelligence framework, and it’s not necessary all the time, on every issue to invoke Five Eyes as your first port of call in terms of creating a coalition of support around particular issues in the human rights space, for example,” she said. Australia cancels Victoria state’s belt and road pact with China The anglophone alliance, which emerged during World War II, has issued a number of joint statements in recent months expressing concerns about Beijing’s tightening controls in Hong Kong , including the imposition of a sweeping national security law that outlaws broadly defined crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. New Zealand, however, has opted out of several statements on Hong Kong involving the other members, issuing separate expressions of concern instead. In January, New Zealand Trade Minister Damien O’Connor sparked controversy in Australia when he suggested the country could have better relations with China if it took a lesson in diplomacy from Wellington, which has maintained warmer relations with Beijing than many Western nations. Australia has seen ties with China nosedive since it proposed an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19 last April, with Beijing hitting back with billions of dollars of restrictions on Australian exports . In January, New Zealand upgraded its free-trade pact with China, which was the first such deal between a developed country and Beijing when it was signed in 2008. Relations between the Antipodean neighbours have also been tested in recent months over Australia’s deportations of New Zealanders with criminal convictions, and the cancellation of a dual national’s Australian citizenship over her suspected links to Islamic State . Speaking ahead of the press conference, Robert Ayson, a professor of strategic studies at Victoria University of Wellington, said Wellington wanted to maintain strong relations with its traditional security and diplomatic allies and partners, “but not at the expense of being able to maintain a productive relationship with Beijing in areas – eg trade and climate change – where this is possible.” Each of us is a proud sovereign nation, with our own independently held views Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, said recent signals from Wellington did not indicate it was distancing itself from the alliance, only that it did not view it as an “appropriate platform for making major foreign policy pronouncements”. “After all, the members of the Five Eyes do not have a monopoly when it comes to concerns over issues of human rights and democracy, and many other states outside the Five Eyes are concerned about China’s assertiveness,” said Patman, who also spoke before the press conference took place. Darren Lim, a senior lecturer in international relations at Australian National University, said the two countries remained closely aligned on policy despite their differences. “If you look at big policy decisions the two countries are pretty similar; the Kiwis see more merit in doing this solo and we see merit in combining with allies,” Lim said. “Both positions have pros and cons but don’t really affect the big structural forces that define relations with China.” Australia and New Zealand’s ‘mateship’ tested over terror suspect, China ties James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology, Sydney, also played down the divisions, arguing the differing approaches would cause “more grumbling in the commentariat than among key decision-makers in government”. “New Zealand continues to acknowledge the importance of the grouping in the intelligence and security frame but does not regard it necessarily as the first port of call for other issues, particularly human rights,” he said. “That really should not be a controversial position but it goes to show just how far the China discussion has shifted, in particular, in the US and Australia.”